


Clothes Make the Man

by Enigmatic_Stardust



Series: To Become Deviant [5]
Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: And lets be real Markus had some serious fashion during the game, Connor needs new clothes, Deviant Connor (Detroit: Become Human), End Game Spoilers, Father-Son Relationship, Gen, Good Parent Hank Anderson, Platonic Relationships, Post-Pacifist Best Ending (Detroit: Become Human), but mostly an exploration of characters, some slight angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-26
Updated: 2018-07-26
Packaged: 2019-06-16 18:48:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,636
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15443505
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Enigmatic_Stardust/pseuds/Enigmatic_Stardust
Summary: Connor's still having trouble reconciling the events of the past few weeks. Hank's determined to help Connor fit in and understand his status as a deviant, but there's only so much he can do to help. He figures, first thing's first, let's get him some new clothes and who better to help out with that than Markus? Two birds, one stone.





	Clothes Make the Man

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by a friend. <3

Connor looked over at Hank, calculating potential outcomes based on their current route. Hank had texted him that morning, asking for him to come over to the house. He hadn’t given an explanation even after telling him they were going on a trip. “It’s a surprise” was all that Connor was able to get out of him. If he didn’t know any better he’d guess that Hank was enjoying this. It wasn’t often that Hank was able to keep him in the dark about something although since his deviancy he found it happening more often. It was odd and Connor wasn’t quite sure yet how he felt about it.

“I asked for a friend to meet us there,” Hank said after a long round of silence that was only interrupted by the jazz music on the radio, “He said he’d help us out.”

Connor tilted his head, brows furrowing slightly as he processed this piece of the puzzle. The mention of meeting a friend didn’t help. It should have narrowed the possibilities, but since the revolt, many if not most of Hank’s friends had left the city. Was it another officer?

 

After another ten minutes of driving, Connor was able to at least piece together where they were heading. They pulled up to the mall five minutes after that. The revelation only added to Connor’s confusion though as he couldn’t imagine any of the other officers being on friendly enough terms to want to meet up with Hank at the mall.

Hank pulled into a parking spot and unlocked the doors, heading out. He jokingly told Connor to “stay in the car” before starting to walk towards the mall’s front entrance. Connor smirked and got out as well, following after him.

“Are we here to assess the current situation with android and human relations?”

“What?” Hank asked, voice pitching slightly with a mixture of surprise and exasperation, “No. I told you it’s a surprise although I thought for sure you would have figured it out by now.”

Connor was just about to say that he didn’t have enough details to come to a conclusion when he saw a familiar android standing near the entrance. He wasn’t dressed in his recognizable long jacket that had become iconic since the uprising (a number of androids and even some humans had started to wear similar coats). Today he wore a pair of dark, almost black teal pants with a warm grey shirt, and an infinity scarf. His jacket was considerably less notable than his usual one. It gave Connor the sense of someone who wasn’t trying to stand out but still wanted to express themselves.

“I’m surprised you managed to bring him here,” Markus said with a grin, “I figured you’d have to drag him out to do this sort of thing.”

“I didn’t give him a choice,” Hank replied, looking pleased with himself.

“If you wanted me to talk with Markus you could have just told me. I would have met him at his new base.”

Hank chuckled, “You still haven’t put it together?”

“Hank asked me to come help you…how did you phrase it? ‘Help him get some clothes that don't look like they were taken out of the trash’.”

“What’s wrong with how I dress?” Connor asked, a hint of defensiveness leaking into his words.

“That’s the same outfit you wore when you came to confront me at Jericho.”

“And if you’re not wearing that you’re wearing your CyberLife uniform.”

“I stopped wearing the jacket,” Connor protested, “My clothes are still functional so they don’t need to be replaced.”

“Picking something out for yourself though is important,” Markus said patiently, “It helps to _define_ you.”

“You were saying the other day you wanted to get better with this whole deviancy thing. So here we are. Now come on its fucking freezing out here.”

Hank led the way inside. Markus lingered back a bit to walk alongside Connor. Connor looked ahead rather than over at the deviant leader. Despite gaining Markus’s forgiveness and helping him with the rebellion, Connor still wasn’t sure where they stood. They’d had two short conversations since the uprising. Both times had been in the company of North, Simon, and Josh, his ever-present companions and advisors. Connor had felt safe talking to him knowing they were there ready to take him out should it turn out that he failed to shut Amanda down completely. This time though there was only Hank. ‘ _I don’t have a weapon on me_ ,’ he reminded himself, ‘ _Markus and Hank are both likely armed. They can stop her…me…if something happens.’_ Even so, he felt uneasy. It didn’t help that people kept looking over at them even if their glances made sense. Both RK models were well known even if one of them wasn’t wearing their iconic uniform.

Hank paused outside of a coffee shop and looked back towards them, “Hey you two go on ahead. I’ll catch up after I get something to wake me up.”

“What? Hank?” Connor’s LED flashed yellow.

“It’s not like you want me picking out your clothes. I get the feeling our styles would be pretty different—unless you want bowling shirts too? I’d personally rather you didn’t copy my style though. Go on, I’ll meet you at the shop.”

Connor continued to hesitate, but Markus put a hand on his shoulder, steering him away, “He’s right. You definitely don’t want him giving you fashion advice.”

“Hey!”

Markus grinned at Hank before looking around, scanning the different storefronts. Connor waited for him to come to a decision and then followed, glancing back briefly at Hank.

“Markus, there’s something you should know if we’re going to be working together…”

“Your AI program. Amanda?” At Connor’s surprised (and slightly horrified) look Markus shrugged, “Lieutenant Anderson mentioned it. I’m not worried about it.”

Connor studied him, a frown slowly forming, “But…why? Did he tell you everything?”

“Not everything, but enough. He told me that you were avoiding me and the others because of it. He also said you were having some trouble with your transition into a deviant. I’d gathered that much when we met. Hmm, this store looks promising.”

They were standing outside of a clothing store of about medium range in terms of cost. There was a range of fashion inside, although nothing like what Hank would wear and certainly nothing like his old uniform. It was a mixture of clothes like the style Markus wore and business casual.

“One of the first things I did after I became a deviant was to start defining myself through my clothes,” Markus explained, waiting for Connor to make the first move, “Up until that point, I wore what was issued to me. My clothes weren’t bad, but I wanted something that was mine.”

That made sense even if Connor wasn’t sure why it mattered for him. His uniform wasn’t designed like most other android uniforms. It was more…human…excluding the jacket and his current outfit was entirely normal. Still, he headed inside the store, nodding to the cashier who greeted them. He glanced around at the various shelves and racks, processing everything. He didn’t have an algorithm for determining fashion. That was no surprise and it had never bothered him in the past (how would it help him with his mission?), but now, standing in the middle of a store surrounded by articles of clothing and no objective, he was unsure of what to do.

“Start with a base,” Markus advised, “What about that rack there?”

Markus pointed over at some pants. Ok. He could handle this. Connor went to the rack and started to shuffle through the jeans, pausing every so often when he saw a pair that looked…well, similar to what he was currently wearing. ‘ _They want me to do something different though…’_ He still couldn’t see why his current clothes were a problem (he’d _technically_ picked them out himself) but he didn’t want to disappoint Hank or Markus. Markus was a busy man and Connor was a little embarrassed that he’d been dragged away from his work just to help him with something so mundane. ‘ _The sooner I pick out something different the sooner they can both get back to the more important tasks.’_ Connor decidedly moved past the usual blue jeans and grabbed a pair of black pants. They were about the same fit as his current pair, but the hems were purposely rolled up and the knees were torn. He glanced at Markus, but the other android had decided to stand back and watch rather than intervene.

Connor looked around before heading over to a shelf sporting a number of different shirts. None of them were like either shirt he owned. Almost out of defiance, just to show that he could, he picked up a knit shirt. It was pale, cool grey and surprisingly soft.

“It’s cold out,” Markus reminded him in the most unhelpful way possible.

“I don’t feel the cold.”

“Is that so?” Connor could hear the skepticism in his voice.

Connor hesitated, “I haven’t thought about it much.”

“At the very least, you don’t want to overwork your systems trying to keep your thirium at the right temperature.”

“Can’t I use the jacket I have now?”

Markus sighed and went to grab a jean jacket from a rack, “Who knew the terrifying deviant hunter was this helpless? Stumped by a clothing store.”

“Not all of us worked alongside a famous artist prior to becoming a deviant.”

That made Markus pause. “I guess you learned that during your investigation into the deviants?”

“I studied you and gained confidential information regarding your origin due to that investigation, so yes. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hit on a touchy subject. I understand there was an altercation the night you became a deviant.”

Markus handed the jacket over to Connor before going over to another shelf, picking out a few pieces and passing them over.

“It turned out alright in the end. It’s just not information I like to have casually spoken about where people might overhear. We may have won the battle, but there are still a lot of people who would like to get that kind of information to undermine me.”

“I won’t mention it again,” Connor agreed with a slight nod to further emphasize his point, “I imagine your relationship with him is similar to my relationship with Hank?”

Markus nodded, “Yeah. He was kind to me back when I was still his android. I’ll always be grateful to him for what he taught me.”

“It’s more than that though, isn’t it?” Connor remembered the case report and the testimonies given about the perceived bond between the android and his owner. It was different, to say the least when compared to the other cases, which was why it had stood out to him in the first place.

“He wanted me to be a deviant from the start I think. He encouraged me to think creatively, beyond my programming.”

“Do you ever miss it?”

He hadn’t meant to ask the question, but it was there now, out in the open. He expected to see disgust in Markus’s eyes, to be reprimanded for even suggesting such a thing, but Markus considered his words carefully before responding.

“There are parts of it. I wouldn’t say that I miss it—I would never go back to that life—but…I wouldn’t change what happened either. It made me who I am.”

“Sometimes I wonder what was and wasn’t part of my programming.” Connor put down a pair of shoes he’d picked up (Markus grabbed them as soon as he put them down and put them back on his growing stack of clothes). “Everyone else talks about it like…it was obvious when they became a deviant and I know when I finally chose to, but…there were choices I made before I became a deviant that went against my protocol.”

“What do you mean?” Markus frowned a little, less out of concern and more from thought if Connor had to guess.

“I made decisions that were detrimental to my mission—decisions that didn’t make sense in regards to my purpose. Even before I met you I did things that would have labeled me as a deviant…later Amanda said I was designed to do that. So what does that mean for me?”

Markus took the clothes from Connor’s arms, “I see…”

“I worry sometimes that maybe I’m still not truly a deviant. After what happened with Amanda, it is a possibility I have to consider.”

“Let me ask you a question, Connor. Does it really matter when you became a deviant? Does it change who you are now?”

Connor considered this. Did it actually matter? The rational part of him shouted that it did, that the actions that led to his current position defined him. Even Markus had to agree with that statement.

“It changes how I view certain choices,” he explained, “If I was a deviant and I did certain things then—”

“You know that those things were wrong though now, or at least, they’re different from the choices you would make if you had to make them again, right?”

“Yes,” Connor affirmed without hesitation, “If I had known…if I hadn’t been so stupid…”

“You weren’t stupid, you were used just like the rest of us were. The moment you chose to stop being their puppet was the moment you chose who you wanted to be and that’s what matters.”

Connor looked away, his LED once again flashing yellow.

“I saw Jericho and I didn’t want anyone to die.”

“You were one stubborn android weren’t you, kid? Everyone knew you were a deviant except you—not that the made people who created you it easy for you to realize it, huh?”

The two turned to see Hank walking over, a large coffee in hand. He nodded towards the pile of clothes in Markus’s arms, pleased.

“Looks like you guys were productive while I was in line. My wallet’s going to hate this.”

“Hank I can pay for this. I have funds left over from my time at CyberLife—“

“Don’t worry, I’ve got it. Everyone’s got to start somewhere. Save your money, kid. Markus,” he looked to the other android, “Thanks again for doing this. I know you’ve got a lot on your plate right now.”

“It was a good break from all of that. Besides, I think we both needed this conversation. Sometimes I have questions as well. It’s good to have a rational discussion about it.”

He smirked at Connor when he used the word ‘rational’. Connor shook his head, smiling just a bit when he recognized the teasing jab. It was good to see how easy Markus was around him, despite everything that had brought them to this point (or maybe because of it).

Hank paid for the clothes and Markus excused himself, explaining that he had to get back to Jericho’s new base (“It’s a never-ending stream of meetings now—but I enjoyed this, Connor. Don’t be a stranger, alright?”). Back in the car on the drive back to Hank’s, Connor fidgeted with his coin, spinning it between his fingers without really paying attention to it. He didn’t speak until they pulled up to Hank’s house.

“I think I still have a long way to go, but I’m starting to understand now.”

Hank grabbed the bag of clothes out of the trunk, “Understand what? Fashion?”

“What being a deviant is.”

“Well, I guess we killed two birds with one stone today, huh? Come on, let’s head inside. I want you to try all of these on to make sure you know how to match them.”

“Like you’re one to talk about matching.”


End file.
